Just talking about Penguin updates gives some people a frightened look these days, ever since the one-two shot with Panda and Penguin updates in 2011 and 2012. Nobody knows for sure exactly which algorithms Google changed, but the effects are clear for anyone who cares to look. Like Pluto, we establish the existence of Penguin’s new algorithms not because we have seen them but because of the effect on the “orbits” of certain types of sites. Study the sites that were slapped by Penguin and you have the basis for the new algorithm, right?
To a certain extent, this is true. We know that Penguin targets websites that have overused anchor text or overused sitewide links. On the other hand, there are things about Penguin that remain undiscovered. How does it value content? Does it have the capability to recognize semantic relationships? These questions are still being bandied about. In the meantime, there are things you can do to Penguin-proof your website.
Bulletproof Digital can help you establish a basis of good links for your website. Our link building services allow you to work with us to create the content and keywords you need to get your website on the map.
Filtering Anchor Text By Term
One nifty little program that has not received a great deal of attention is Ahrefs.com, which allows you to filter your anchor text by term instead of phrase. This means that you can spot potentially site-threatening problems such as repetitive semantic text and not just phrases.
An example of this would be when you interchange words. “Doctor” and “physician” mean the same thing, so the terms “plastic surgery doctor” and “plastic surgery physician” would have the same meaning. Formerly, this was not an issue because of the different key words; however, now that Google apparently has the ability to distinguish that these two phrases mean the same thing, a site could be hit with a duplication charge even if they did not mean to use the term manipulatively.
Link Profile Analysis Add-On
It is possible that Google may be using a two-word link analysis to check for possible duplication, but so far it does not seem to have affected many sites. That does not mean that it will not happen in the future, of course. As semantics becomes a more important part of the picture, it is likely that Google will develop this skill.
It is our job as SEO managers to avoid this kind of problem. One way to do that is through the link analysis available from programs like Ahrefs. You will want to do everything you can to make sure that you are not accidentally and unintentionally leading Google to devalue your links—or your client’s.
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